This
transit was in my own back yard, and about two weeks before I set off
to Idaho to view the Total
Eclipse of the Sun. My
telescope's electronics no longer work, so it won't goto or track
anymore, but the optics are still good. I pointed the scope a
few
hours early to a known star that was at the extact Alt/Az as the
transit. Then all I had to do was wait.

Click
play below to see the
full two minute video of the moon drifting through the field of view

November
10, 2008 ISS Lunar
Transit

Additional
solar panels have
been deployed since my last attempt over two years ago.
This would be an excellent opportunity to video record the
transit since the ISS was to be at a range of only 242
miles. I
traveled a few miles to
get to the observing site in Livermore, CA.
In the field, I did not see the ISS transit at all.
It was
only until I returned home and reviewed the video tape, that I noticed
a
very fast streak just catch the upper right corner of the field of
view.

When
I received the e-mail from Thomas Fly's ISS Transit
Alert service,
I knew right away I had to attempt this transit.
The ISS was going to be at a range of only 238 miles, closer
than
any other transit that I have attempted. Even though I had to
travel 50 miles to get to a suitable
observing site just outside Newman, CA, it would be worth the
drive
from my home in Livermore, CA. I scouted out a location
during the day and kept an eye out for the latest elements from Space-Track.org.
An updated Two Line Element set was posted about 30 minutes
before the
transit which allowed me to zoom in
on a specific location of the moon.
Equipment
used: Meade 10" F/10
LX200GPS telescope, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and the KIWI OSD Video
Time-inserter connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS. The composite image
above consists of 4 frames (8 fields) with
the ISS
moving right to left.

The
ISS was at a range of only 271 miles for this
transit. The predicted center line was only 2.3 miles from
home. Once
again, I scouted a location during the day. And once again,
at the
time of the event there were thin clouds in front of the moon.
The
ISS was not positioned as favorably as in the November 8, 2003 event
(see
below), but nevertheless, I'm satisfied with the video and
composite
image. The composite image actually consists of 4 frames with
the ISS
moving right to left (the fourth image of the ISS is within the lunar
terminator
between two craters -- if you look carefully in the large image, you
can
make out the solar panels). Equipment used: 10" F/10
LX200GPS, No Focal
Reducer, and Watec 902H CCD Video Camera. Audio from WWV.
FOV:
7.75’ x 5.875’

This
was my first attempt to video an ISS transit in
which I had to go mobile. Since the ISS was going to be at a
range
of only 264 miles (that's twice as close as the event on July 12, 2003,
below),
I decided I would attempt it. The predicted center line was
only about
10 miles from my home in Livermore, CA. I selected an
observing location
near Tracy, CA during the day. There were thin clouds at the
time of
the event with a relative humidity of 100% and temperature 54 degrees
F.
Despite the weather, the result was a spectacular video of
the event!
Equipment used: 10" F/10 LX200GPS, No Focal Reducer, and
Watec 902H
CCD Video Camera. Audio from WWV. FOV:
7.75’ x
5.875’

Note: The ISS flies in and out
of the field of view in about one-tenth
of a second (3 frames). Those of you using QuickTime
to view the
video can single-step through frames using the arrow keys.
You can
also pause the video and use the horizontal slider to move to the
frames
which include the ISS.

UPDATED,
September 30, 2005: I now use VirtualDub
to create composite images, with the ViewFields
filter. These tools allow me to extract fields (60 per
second) instead of
frames (30 per second), which produce twice as many still images to go
into the composite image. This Lunar Transit Image has been
updated
using this new technique.

I was
able to catch two ISS
solar transits the same week while the Space Shuttle Atlantis was
docked to it. In both instances, the Sun was too low in the
sky
to get sharp details. These transits were part of a busy week
for me which included mobile observations of the El Nath graze and the occultation of a star by the asteroid Vibilia
only 5 hours before the September 15th transit.

The
above composite image was
taken from the video. Unfortunately the video tape was
defective,
so there is a significant "wave" to the video and images.
Nevertheless, the transit is clearly visible, and it is
unlikely
that a good video tape would have been able to show us both the ISS and
Atlantis in significant detail. This map
shows the Sun, along with my CCD camera field of view and the NASA
element
path prediction. The ISS was
at a range of 935 miles. Equipment used: Meade 10" F/10
LX200GPS telescope with Solar Filter, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and the KIWI OSD Video Time-inserter
connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS.

The
transit
prediction for my home was right on the edge of the Sun, where there
was a chance of a miss. This map
shows the Sun, along with my CCD camera field of view and the Space-Track.orgelement
path prediction. The ISS was
at a range of 506 miles. Equipment used: Meade 10" F/10
LX200GPS telescope with Solar Filter, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and the KIWI OSD Video
Time-inserter connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS.

The
first alert I received for
this transit had my home right on the center line. The final
alert had me only 0.2 miles from the path edge. To complicate
matters, CalSky
and the Space-Track.org elements had my home outside the path. Only
the NASA elements had me inside the path edge. This map
shows the Sun, along with my CCD camera field of view, the NASA element
path and the SpaceTrack element path. The actual ISS path
split
the difference and was barely inside the Sun's edge. The ISS
was
at a range of 342 miles. Equipment used: Meade 10" F/10
LX200GPS telescope with Solar Filter, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and the KIWI OSD Video
Time-inserter connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS. The composite image
above consists of 5 frames (10 fields) with
the ISS
moving bottom to top. Sunspot complex 905 is on the left
side of the field of view.

Wow,
it has been over a year
and a half since my last successful attempt to video record a transit.
This transit was actually the second in as many weeks that
was
visible from my backyard. The first transit was a no show,
but
this one did not disappoint. The
ISS was at a range of 376 miles. The composite
image
consists of 6 frames (12 fields) with
the ISS
moving right to left. Equipment used: 10" F/10
LX200GPS, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and my new KIWI OSD Video
Time-inserter connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS.

A few hours before the predicted transit
event, I download the latest ISS
orbital elements from the
NASA
Spaceflight web site and Space-Track.org. I then
load the elements
closest to the
prediction time into Sky
Map Pro. From there I print out a map which
provides details of
the transit, including Altitude & Azimuth, direction of ISS,
time of
transit and CCD Field of View. Other resources I use are
Heavens
Above and Cal Sky.